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Tales of Eternia (2000)
One of the prettiest jRPGs on PS1
After completing Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Destiny on PS1 I expected the same, but better for Namco's next installment in the series. And I wasn't disappointed for the most part.
Isometric perspective was the best choice to showcase gorgeous hand drawn and pre-rendered backgrounds, which aged far better than most 3d prerenders from Final Fantasy and similar games. Character sprites are also more detailed and proportions are closer to anime characters.
Battle system feels the same, but also more difficult. Even though annoying pausing when someone is casting a spell is gone, it's still annoying that camera flies all over the place from main character to spell caster. Enemies often brake your attack chain, and can use spells with minimal delay, so you'll take a lot of damage in each battle. Also, combat became more chaotic with a lot of stuff flying on the screen. Often you won't be able to see your character in the crowd. Grinding is back, and leveling up between major dungeons is a must, because difficulty ramps up after each one.
Music is good, nothing got stuck in my memory, but if I'll hear it I'll recognize it instantly.
Plot moves slowly, and becomes interesting midgame. It also feels more childish compared to Tales of Phantasia. Characters motivation and development arks are quite shallow. I didn't feel any connection or compassion towards any of them. Most interesting character to me - Max would've been a much better protagonist in my opinion.
To summarize, I didn't get as much satisfaction from Tales of Eternia, as I got from previous installments. It has one of the best graphics in jrpgs on PS1, and if you master the battle system, gameplay becomes very addicting. But for a casual player, there are much better Tales games.
Vandal Hearts II (1999)
Feels disappointing until you figure it out
I loved the first installation of Vandal Hearts. It was easy to get into, graphics were gorgeous and enemy deaths quite satisfying. So I expected the same from the sequel.
But... I got disappointed. I've probably spent 5-10 hours until I finally figured how to play this game right. You see, the main "problem" is - you don't take turns with your enemy, like in every classical tactical rpg. Instead you pick a character, give him an order, and while it plays out, at the same time one of the enemy characters does his move. So if you wanted to attack that enemy character, he may move out of the way and you'll attack empty space. And there are no counterattacks, regular blocking or anything that can help you if you miscalculated your move. Off course this also plays the other way around. If you know which party member will probably be attacked, you can move them out of the way or even backstab the attacking foe.
That's why the moment you realize how AI thinks, it becomes very satisfying to plot your strategy. For example: AI usually attacks the character with the least health in his reach, and to deal the most damage it will strike from the back whenever it's possible. So what you want to do, is move your character at the same time to attack the space, where you think an enemy will move into. This is a pretty simplified explanation, because there are long range classes and wizards with large area carpet bombing, so you'll have to play a dozen of battles to learn the patterns. After you figure it out, it gets pretty easy to outsmart the computer opponent.
Unlike the first game, in Vandal Hearts 2 there are no distinct classes. Your character is what you equip him with. So you can have a flying wizard, or a heavy armored archer, or a wizard with both a staff and an axe. Combinations are limitless. But this also adds to complexity for newcomers.
And there's also the skill transfer mechanic... You don't have a fixed set of skills for each character or weapon. This time - each new weapon has one skill, and when you gain new weapons - you can transfer skills and spells from old weapon to a new one, so you'll have more to pick from and more powerful spells as you move through the game.
You can replay completed level almost at any time to grind or to find treasures you've missed before, but keep in mind that the enemies will be the same level as your party. And there are a lot of levels. They are not as distinct as in the first game though. And forget about level goals like "kill every enemy until they reach the exit" or "escape in 10 turns". This time it's basically kill the boss or kill everyone.
The plot is quite complex, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Portraits for each hero is unique but battle sprites are very similar and it sometimes is hard to keep track of who's who.
Prepare for a dive into the world of politics, cultists, mercenaries, betrayals and corruption.
If you like the first Vandal Hearts, gather your patience into a fist and play the game until you're comfortable with it. And then - the fun begins.
World War II: From the Frontlines: The Master Race (2023)
Not a word about Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
Colorized film looks gorgeous most of the time. Witnesses diaries is a great addition.
All events are simplified a bit too much in my opinion. It's mostly presented as a nice set of colored pictures, rather than a truthful documentary.
And come on, Germany didn't invade the whole Poland, they split it with Soviets. The pact doomed Europe. Mistakes like that will not let the learning audience to learn from the past.
Sound design and narration is top tier. You immetse yourself inside the planes bombing cities, trenches on the frontlines and tanks roaming through the battlefields.
Coloring technology improved a lot thanks to AI, but I would've waited another decade for it to become flawless.
Fire Emblem: Rekka No Ken (2003)
This game should be available on all consoles and PC
Unexpectedly deep story mixed with awesome tactical turn based strategy gameplay. Characters are unique and easy to remember. Leveling up your favorites is a pleasant experience. Characters can permanently die so making mistakes can bring some frustration and rage quitting, but also makes you want to replay missions again and again without any casualties. Managing inventory of each hero is very important, because often there will not be any shops to resupply. Music and graphics are well polished, even for modern standards. This game definitely deserves a place in the hall of fame of not only GBA games, but the best tactical rpgs of all times. I really hope it would get an HD version one day.
Now I wish to explore other games in the series.
Wipeout (1995)
Unforgiving but addictive
You drive fast racing pods across futuristic speed tracks, competing with AI for the first place. Game modes include championsip, single race, time trial and 2 player mode. 2 championships are available, the second is unlocked after beating the first. Tracks in both championships are basically the same, but pods are much faster, hence more difficult to maneuver. You have limited retries to beat each track, so get used to replaying whole championship from beginning. This also helps to remember the layout, because it's impossible to take the first place without predicting each turn. Hitting a wall reduces your speed drastically, and without flying over boost spots getting in the lead is very hard. Various powerups are scattered across each track to help you slow down enemies, shield you from their attacks and gain speed. Controlling your pod is hard at top speed, but not impossible, it takes a lot of practice and patience, but you really value each victory.
Techno soundtrack is awesome, perfect for high speed experience. Graphics are simple but well polished, each track feels unique.
Overall this game feels a bit like it was made for an arcade machine, each retry meant to suck your coins. But I can't way to try out the sequels.
Alundra (1997)
This game is hard for wrong reasons
It could have been an awesome metroidvania if not for those dreadful puzzles everywhere and unforgiving platforming. Jumping platforms is difficult, but not because you need to calculate precise timing or have lighting fast reflexes, but because camera angle makes it very hard to predict where you will land. Top down or isometric view platformers all suffer from this issue. There's no analog stick support, so good luck making precise moves diagonally with a D-pad and missing diagonal movement animation adds to this issue. So the best experience you can get from Alundra, is when level is built like a traditional side scroller. Too bad it rarely happens.
But if you have enough patience, you can have fun with this game. Pixel art is gorgeous, world if full of secrets and exploration, and you'll keep returning to visited areas to unlock previously closed paths all the time. Story itself is also quite interesting, weaved nicely into gameplay. Zelda-like music fits perfectly.
In the end, Alundra aged not too great, but I really would love to see it reimagined with better controls.
Tamamayu monogatari (1998)
Missed opportunity
I love the art style in this game. Opening movie prepares you for epic adventure in a spirit of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. But I got disappointed halfway through the game.
In your journey you will have to fight a lot of monsters, and to level up your character, you have to capture as many of them as possible, like in Pokémon. Captured monsters have to be purified in a village first, then you can equip, sell or merge them. Merging is the most interesting mechanic in this game, but merging menu could be more intuitive and user friendly. You basically mix 2 monsters into one, so it will get traits from both "parents". There are 4 elements in this game - earth, fire, water and air. Fire monsters are weak against water monsters, water against earth, and so on. Monsters level up as they defeat enemies, so you have to choose either capture them to sell or merge, or to defeat and level up your pets that way.
Battles are very slow, and short pauses between animations will drive you mad at some point. Get used to replaying each level a few times, because monsters are stronger the deeper you go, and are impossible to defeat without grinding through level a few times.
Almost all dialogues are dubbed, not that it matters much, but at the age when this game was released it probably was a selling point.
Monster design is mediocre, they are all ugly and mostly insect like. Their names I can't even pronounce. When you mix them, they can change color and appearance, but still look blend.
Jade Cocoon for PS1 could've been something more if developers had larger budget, or cut expenses on voice acting to improve gameplay. It's a fun game, until it gets repetative.
Star Ocean: The Second Story (1998)
This could've been a great game if not for some major flaws.
Game starts nice and easy, with fun real time combat, where you control one character, while the other party members are controlled by AI. It's all good, till you get to fight 8 enemies at once, each one taking 50 hits to defeat. And your melee party members love to throw themselves at the punches and die, so get used to healing everyone and stack up on resurrection potions.
Only way to avoid long battles is to grind and grind and grind again. But soon you get to the point when enemies are overpowered again, and you have to repeat the loop. To add to this, often battles become too chaotic, and not only you have to keep concentration on your enemy, but also keep an eye on health and mana bars of your allies, which often get paralyzed. And your allies can't use basic items, so your healer is the only support you've got. "Tales of Destiny" and "Tales of Symphonia" have similar battle mechanics, but they work so much better, and feel much more responsive.
Switching between characters, using items and magic in battle is very inconvenient. Inventory items hoard up very fast and it's very inconvenient to search for items you need. To add to this, while in battle, all items are displayed in a small window, and you have to scroll a huge list every time (and for some reason all the items that can't be used are also displayed)
Crafting, cooking and other item creating mechanics rely on random numbers, especially at lower levels, so most of the time you'll craft useless rubbish. Much easier to just buy ready supplies.
Pixel art characters look fine, but nothing special. Some prerendered backgrounds aged poorly, others look gorgeous. World is fun to explore, cities and dungeons are unrepetitive. Some enemy designs are weird, and there are not that many interesting bosses.
Overall, I enjoyed most of this game, and despite it being too grindy at times, it's a solid experience, providing interesting story and some unique mechanics to explore.
Vandal Hearts (1997)
Simple but addictive
Vandal Hearts is a tactical RPG with elements of strategy, set in a medieval fantasy world, where swords and sorcery forged a grim place to live in.
The gameplay overall feels like a modified game of chess, where each piece has unique characteristics and the battlefield changes every time.
The plot is quite simple, so do not look for depth in the characters, but it is more than enough for this genre. The story is expertly woven into each mission and tactics must be adapted accordingly. In one battle you simply need to destroy all enemies, in another - to save a prisoner, whose cage is lowered into the lava after each turn, and in the next - to destroy magical artifacts without killing a single villager turned zombie.
Between battles, you will have the opportunity to visit one of the settlements. There you can replenish supplies in the local store, or listen to some gossip in a tavern. And in the dojo, if you reach a certain level, you can upgrade the class of one of the fighters.
The graphics are pleasing to the eye, the battle maps look like board game miniatures, and the characters are drawn with a unique style and excellent pixel art. It is especially pleasant to watch how enemies explode in a fountain of blood after a decisive blow.
Music in a medieval style nicely emphasizes the setting of the game, but it is unlikely that at least one of the tracks will find its way into your selection of soundtracks.
Significant flaws in Vandal Hearts are hard to find. Yes, sometimes it's hard to tell where your cursor is, especially when lots of characters pile up. It would also be nice to see more variety of weapons and armor, because 4-5 options for each character class for the entire game is rather poor.
In general, Vandal Hearts is quite addictive, it's a pity that the game is so short, but straight after completion I couldn't resist to replay it, this time collecting all the treasures and not losing a single hero on the battlefield.
Tales of Destiny (1997)
Unpolished Gem
My main conclusion - Tales of Destiny is an unpolished gem, with mostly gorgeous graphics and addictive battle system.
Pros:
Fresh look at turn based battle system. You can fully control your character's actions, but there's a hidden cooldown after each move, so you can't just spam attacks at your enemies. Other party members are controlled by AI, but can also be controlled by second player if you have a special item equipped. It's up to you to choose battle strategy for each character, and at any time you can pause the battle to manually cast spells or use an item.
Beautiful world to explore. Pixel art is pleasant to the eye, sometimes extremely gorgeous, especially the cutscenes. Each biome has a unique look, and you can easily distinguish in which city you are. Every house has a story, you can hear a woman's story in one city and then meet her son on the other side of the world.
It's fun to explore various caves and dungeons for secrets, especially in the first half of the game. You can backtrack completed dungeons when you reach a certain level to interact with magical totems and unlock new abilities. Finding each treasure chest is also challenging, some of them containing rare power ups for your sword.
Idea of swords that can talk and have their own personality is quite neat, especially when whole plot revolves around it. But it also would be much cooler if we could get more interaction from swords when talking to random people, not only in main plot dialogues.
I like healing items in this game. There are no basic potions, mega potions, uber potions, etc. Each potion replenishes certain percentage of your health bar, so you don't have to keep upgrading your potions each time you level up.
The plot. It's fun to untangle. There are some betrayals and unexpected turns. Just like in a real world, not everything goes according to plan and you can't save everyone and win every battle. Each party member has his own motives and story arc, which is weaved perfectly into main plot.
There is quite a variety of enemies and monsters in this game. And they are often mixed up, so you must pick different tactics each time. You learn fast to distinguish those who can take out whole party in a few attacks, so attacking them first is a wise idea.
Cons
Graphics are a mixed bag, looking more like an improved SNES title, rather than a PS1 game. 3D world map looks dull in comparison to cities and dungeons rich with details. I would prefer if they would stick to 2d all the way.
In the second part of the game there's a huge segment where you travel across 4 reskinned mazes, and it get's pretty boring pretty fast.
Text box has only 2 colors and no character faces, so it is very hard sometimes to keep track of who said what. Especially with all the terminology and hard to pronounce\remember names.
I don't understood what's up with all the various food. Game doesn't explain this, and doesn't show me any status changes when your sack runs out of food. Weird.
Random encounters appear almost every 10 steps. This makes navigating mazes even more frustrating. You can use repel item to reduce encounters, but then you will not unlock high damage skills, because skipping encounters will not level up your characters.
There's not that much to do if you like side quests and mini games. And if there are, they're pretty hard to complete, so casual players wouldn't bother anyway.
Lack of interesting bosses. Usually bosses are regular sized people, so beating the crap out of them isn't as pleasing as kicking some kaiju's ass. And usually spamming the most powerful attacks beats them easily.
Comparing this game to it's rivals, no doubt it's less famous than most Sqare games. It didn't had a budget to become a legend, but for those who are looking for some good old retro jrpg, Tales of Destiny will provide fully.